Matchmaker
by skyrie-chan
Summary: Leonard decides to play Matchmaker to two of his friends. Shenny pairing, because we always could use a little more Shenny! Rating might go up, depends on feedback!
1. Chapter 1

Matchmaker

Leonard saw it, Howard and Raj saw it, even Amy, Priya and Bernadette saw it. The close bond between Penny and Sheldon. At first they thought nothing much of it, wrote it off as nothing more than them being incredibly close friends. But soon they began to notice little subtleties.

The first happened when it was chinese food night. Penny had treated them this time, celebrating the raise she had gotten at the Cheesecake Factory and the big bonus she had gotten fom landing a small role in another commercial.

Penny was just starting to take out all the items when Sheldon approached her. "Penny," he started. "Did you remember to ask that-"

"Yes," she said, handing him his diced chicken.

"Even though the menu clearly says-"

"Yes."

"Did you remember to stop at the store and get-"

"Yes," she said handing him the good hot mustard.

"And the-"

"Yes," she finished, handing him the low sodium soy sauce.

"Thank you."

Sheldon sat at his spot and arranged his food and napkins, while Penny took her food and sat next to him, which by an unspoken agreement had somehow become "her spot". Sheldon poured exactly twenty milliliters of each into his fod, and held the bottles to his right. Right into the palm of her outstretched hand. They had reached out their hands at exactly the same time silently and were sitting a little closer than they normally would.

No one said anything, they decided to think of it as nothing more than the two of them becoming increasingly close friends over the years.

The next time didn't happen for weeks. The next time it happened was Halo night. Sheldon and Penny were teamed up against Howard, Raj and Leonard. Leonard was killed, now only Raj and Howard were left to defend what was left of their base. Stalking just out of range, Sheldon and Penny skirted around the edge. Soon, they found an opening.

"Penny..."

"I'm on it."

Not knowing what to expect, Raj and Howard were caught off guard by the plasma grenade and soon it was raining bits and pieces of them. Howard threw his controller down in frustration.

"Okay, I don't know how, but you two are cheating!" Raj simply gave them a look of silent disbelief.

After many more of encounters such as these, and more, and Leonard felt as if he should do something about it. But he'd need help. So he decided to ask Wolowitz and Koothrapali when they met up at Raj's apartment to hang out.

"Hey, guys," he said. "Do you think Penny and Sheldon would make a good couple?"

Both men stared at him in disbelief. "Are you joking?" asked Howard, "Sure you won't feel jealous of seeing your ex girlfriend with your roommate and best friend?"

"I'm sure. I may have loved Penny, but now I'm in love with Priya. I still care about Penny. She deserves to be in a _real_ relationship, and I think Sheldon might be the guy."

"Yeah, but dude, this is _Sheldon_," said Raj. "You know, the 'I hate physical contact because there's so many germs' Sheldon? And also Penny, the 'big ol' five, loves sex' Penny. You don't see that as a problem?"

"Maybe, but don't you think it's worth a shot?" asked Leonard.

Howard put his drink on the coffee table. "Okay," he said. " Let's give it a shot. How would you suggest we start this plan, anyways?"

"Well," Leonard replied. "Let's start brainstorming. Raj, you have some whiteboards here don't you?"

Raj nodded and left the room to get the big white board he kept in his room that he used when he brought any of his work home with him.

"Alright, fellas," he said. "Let's get started."

**A/N: I'm not sure if people really read these author notes (I usually scroll right by them) but thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Big thank you to TheTerribleJester for the encouragement! If you have anything to say about it, constructive criticism, plot suggestions, etc, please feel free to review. Reviews make me happy.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Matchmaker chapter 2**

**A/N: Thank you so much everyone who read, followed, and reviewed! It means so much to me, and as promised, here's an update! Please enjoy, story time! Sorry it took so long, I have very limited internet access. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, I'm only borrowing, because if I did own them...well...;)**

"Alright," said Howard. "How do you suggest we start? We have to this with subtly, we don't want them to find out and freak."

"You're right," Leonard agreed. "Sheldon probably won't realise what we're doing until the last moment, but Penny will unleash all of her junior rodeo skills on us." All three men shuddered collectively at the thought.

"Well we don't really know how either of them feels about the other, for all we know they could already like each other and we may just be helping them by bringing it out into the light," piped up Raj.

"Yes," countered Howard. "But that's based entirely on speculation, we can't go off of a 'what if.'"

After they had mapped out various methods and chose one with the best possible outcome, they decided to first gauge each of their feelings for the other. "I know he may not like it and denies it most of the time, but Sheldon does have feelings," said Leonard when they packed up.

The plan was decided on. Trick Sheldon into thinking he and Penny were dating. It would be relatively easy, since he had no previous experience.

The plan was to be set into motion. Leonard would first have to find out how Sheldon feels about Penny, who would then talk to Penny about it.

Soon after their meeting Leonard returned to their apartment to find a most welcome sight. Penny and Sheldon were sitting side by side on their spots playing Age of Conan, teaming up against a group of pillagers. "Hey guys," Leonard greeted them, but they were too far into the game to even notice he had come home.

Patiently he waited until they had finished their quests and Penny decided to go. Finding an opportune moment to talk to Sheldon, he decided to take it. "So, uh..." he didn't really know where to begin. He had forgotten to go over this part with Koothrapalli and Wollowitz. Damn!

Sheldon stared at him, bemused. "Leonard, I may not be as understanding of social protocols as you, but I find that conversations proceed quicker if the one who initiates said conversation were able to hold a steady train of thought."

Leonard realised he had been staring into space for several minutes. He looked up, and the look of waning patience on Sheldon's face confirmed it. "Sorry," he said. "Anyway, you and Penny sure are spending alot of time together, huh?"

Sheldon mulled it over for a few seconds. "Yes, I suppose you're right," he finally said. "Why do you feel the need to bring it up? You are aware I dislike banal chitchat."

"It's just that, well I was wondering...why?"

"Why what?"

"Why have you been spending so much time with Penny lately?"

"What a ridculous question, that's because-" Sheldon stopped himself short. Why _was _he spending so much time with the woman across the hall? "Well..." he said slowly. "I don't really know, I simply have been enjoying her company lately."

Leonard grinned.

"Anything happen new between you two?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know, you tell me. You're the one spending time with her."

"Well...she has been rather agreeable lately. And she seems to enjoy my company as much as she does mine."

"Where is she?"

"She went home, we finished playing Age of Conan for the day. Leonard I don't really see this conversation being very beneficial for the either of us, it's going in circles."

Leonard got up from his seat on the armchair and crossed to the fridge to get a diet coke for the two of them. He smiled at his roommate and handed him a can. Sheldon acccepted a thoughtful "Thanks".

"So," said Leonard. "What are your thoughts? Perhaps Mr. HomoNovus isn't all that evolved? Maybe he really does need human contact? With someone...?"

Sheldon sat in thought, and answered automatically, "It's Dr. HomoNovus, and I'm trying to think, Leonard."

"About what?"

"I'm not sure yet...I'm trying to figure out what sort of social custom you're trying to refer to."

"Well," replied Leonard. "You two hanging out so much, people might get the wrong idea. Some people might think you're dating. I just thought I'd let you know."

Sheldon thought for a few more moments. Dating was something lesser beings did. He wasn't sure what dating would consist of. But surely he, Sheldon Lee Cooper, PhD could figure it out. Dating seemed to be comprised of a plethora of physical contact. Penny did seem to be a bit more affectionate towards him lately. She had been hugging him more often and touching his arm. Surprisingly he had not accepted it nor outright rejected it. Couples went out to dinner. They had gone to the regular chinese restaurant together, and having being a gentleman drummed into his head from an early age, paid for both their meals. Looking back on it, he could see how people could mistake them for a couple, the way they laughed, shared private jokes and sparred verbally. But did he want them to be a couple? Would it really be that bad?

"Sheldon? Sheldon? SHELDON!"

Sheldon jumped in surprise. He hadn't realised how long he had sat their, ruminating over his and Penny's interactions lately and what they meant. To himself and to others. "My apologies, Leonard," he said. "But may I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"Are Penny and I dating?"

"Well..." Leonard replied, pretending to give it actual deep thought. "Do you want to be?"

Sheldon thought this over, before jumping up and running across the hall before Leonard could say another word.

Knock knock knock. "Penny!"

Knock knock knock. "Penny!"

Knock knock knock. "Penny!"

**A/N: That's right, I'm ending it here for now, in a cliffhanger! Mwa ha ha. Hope you're still with me, I'm sorry if the plan wasn't very smoothly executed nor smoothly written, I just find it hard to segue into things like that. Reviews are much appreciated and make me happy! Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Matchmaker Chapter 3 **

**A/n: I am so sooorry that I took forever to update, but as I previously stated in my other fics, I have been dealing with a bad case of writer's block. The good news is, we're going to be continuing with normal bookwork in class soon so that should get the juices flowing (ironically). In any case, here's the next chapter, as promised, I hope you enjoy it!**

***Obligatory stating none of this is mine***

Penny opened the door to find a very flustered physicist. "Sheldon?" she asked. Something was very obviously wrong. His face was twitching and he couldn't even seem to put a whole sentence together, which for the very articulate Texan, was something that almost never happened.

"Sheldon, sweetie, what's wrong?"

"Penny, I find- I must ask- he said- are- we-"

"Sheldon! Calm down, what are you trying to say?"

"Pennyarewedating?" He said it so rushed, it almost came out in one word. All Penny really caught were the words "we" and "dating", and that was enough to bring an even more confused expression to the waitresses's face. Penny steered Sheldon to the couch, and left to fix him a cup of tea before he could even ask for it. It _is_ a non-optional social convention, after all. She handed her neighbor the tea, and took a seat next to him.

"Okay," she started slowly. "Let's take it from the top. What happened, and what are you talking about?"

Sheldon took a calming sip of his tea, wiped his hands on his pants, and took a long slow breath. His eyes could not meet hers while he explained. "Leonard has pointed out to me that you and I have been behaving like a typical example of what western society would label as a 'couple'. As you are aware, I am not very skilled when it comes to intrapersonal relationships. Therefore, I am deferring to your social expertise." He paused to let her absorb what he said, as he knew it would take her a while. "Are we dating?" he asked again.

Penny stared at him, at a loss for words. "Well...no," she finally replied. "We're not. Couples touch, couples do things together, usually eat together, they spend a lot of time with each other..." She slowly realised they had been doing each of these things increasingly, lately. Granted, they didn't touch like the other relationships she had been in. However thinking back on it, there _had_ been a few instances... When she was taking food out of the bags, be it Chinese, Thai, or even pizza out of the box. Penny would be handing him his food, and their hands would brush for one, maybe two, seconds. True enough, it wasn't much, however Penny recalled Sheldon didn't rush for the Purell immediately after each ocurrence. It was a small start, but if Sheldon (who found the very idea of touching anyone for the breifest of seconds without being equipped with surgical gloves abhorrent), was willing to touch her and not have a mental breakdown but instead act like nothing happened, that was saying something.

"Penny?" Sheldon's voice broke through her thoughts. She raised her head to look him in the eye. "You have been sitting there, apparently lost in thought for quite a while."

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that. I was just thinking that Leonard may be right about that. Think about it-" she started giving him examples of each of the items she had listed previously- "we have been touching lately, our hands, and you don't touch anyone, yet you touch my hand and act like it's no big deal. We do our laundry every Saturday together, we tend to eat dinner together alot, and we _have_ been spending alot of time together, lately."

It was Sheldon's turn to think, now. Leonard appeared aot be right, he and Penny did in fact seem to be a couple. He would have to set her straight, that he did **not** want a romantic relationship, nor did he think he would ever want one. However, he found that he did not object to having her as company for the greater part. He wondered at the possiblities of entering a relationship, and ending this mishap here. This could be a learning experience.

"Penny, you are my friend, right?" he asked tentatively. He wasn't sure how to word this.

"Of course, sweetie," Penny smiled at him.

"If I asked you to show me what a relationship is like, so I can decide for future reference if I actually do want one, would you be willing to help? I want to know exactly our male friends find so fascinating about it."

Penny stared at an oddly shaped smudge on the glass of her coffee table. "Like a fake relationship experiment?"

"Precisely."

The smaller blonde thought for a few moments, before sighing. "It's a big responsibility, Sheldon; me teaching you. Can I have a while to think about it?"

The lanky physicist stood up and walked toward the door. "Of course," he replied, opening the door. "I expect an answer in no less than one week." With that, he shut the door.

**A/N: Again, I apologize for the wait, thank you for reading, I hope you all enjoyed it! please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Matchmaker chapter 4**

**A/n: Finally got out of my writing slump, of course I couldn't have without everyone's support on here! so without further ado, here's the next installment of Matchmaker! Please enjoy!**

***obligatory disclaimer stating none of this is mine***

Penny was startled awake by the sound of her ringing phone. After her talk with Sheldon, she had retreated to the sanity of her bedroom to contemplate what he had asked her for, but ended up falling asleep instead. Disentangling herself from the sheets, she snatched her cell off her nightstand to answer it.

"H'llo?" she slurred sleepily.

"Hello, bestie," the neurobiologist replied monotonously, albiet cheerfully.

Penny stifled a yawn. "Hey, Amy."

"Penny, do you have a few minutes? There's something I need to discuss with you."

Penny glanced at her bedside clock. Sheldon and Leonard would be expecting her to join them for dinner soon. She suddenly felt exhausted, despite her long nap. Penny enjoyed having Amy as a friend,she was definitely a welcome change from her usual airheaded friends. Hanging out with her, learning new words, sometimes made Penny feel smarter. But she can sometimes be tiresome with her never-ending enthusiasm.

"Yeah, sure, what's up?" Penny ran a hand through her hair and started searching for her dictionary, knowing full well that Amy would be using words out of her vocabulary range.

_**A few hours prior**_

Sheldon returned to his own abode, looking much calmer. The wild look in his eyes was gone, and the twitching had stopped. Leonard was very much curious as to what had transpired in Penny's apartment. "So," he said. "How'd it go over there? Everything ok?"

Sheldon gave a small smile. "Yes, I asked Penny something, and she said that she would think it over. I believe she will agree sooner or later."

Leonard beamed up at his roommate. "Really? That's so great!"

"Yes, it is, isn't it," replied Sheldon. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go over my comic book collection to determine which issues I will need to look for at the comic book store tomorrow." With that, he left the room.

Leonard frowned slightly. So Penny wasn't as willing as he'd hoped. This plan would definitely take a touch of feminity. Leonard picked up his cellphone, and tapped around until he came to a name he almost _never_ called. "Hey, Amy," he said when she picked up, stepping into the hallway. No need for Sheldon's bionic hearing to pick up on this. "Hey, listen, I need a favor..."

"And that's essentially the whole plan," he finished filling her in on the plan that everyone in their social group had concocted.

"I see," Amy replied. "So you're asking me to use subtlety to nudge Penny and Sheldon together?"

"Well, yeah, but we really just need you to nudge Penny, the guys and I are taking care of Sheldon. Oh, and try to see if Bernadette will be willing to help, too, please."

"Understood. It might take me a while to coerce Bernadette into agreeing, she's too goody two shoes for it," Amy's dry humor was starting to show. "I will contact Penny in a few hours. Good-bye, Leonard."

Leonard hung up the phone and returned to his apartment only to find Sheldon waiting for him expectantly. "Um, hey, buddy," he said disarmingly.

"Buddy...? Who were you talking to in the hall?"

Leonard started to waver under his roommate's gaze. "W-what, that? No one, just...the lab. Leslie said we might have to run a few more tests to determine what makes the subatomic behave the way they do in zero gravity. She says a zero gravity environment is really hard to recreate in the lab, you know, with the air pressure, and all..."

Sheldon scoffed. "Well of course it is, for subpar 'physicists' such as Leslie Winkle, I suppose even tying her own shoelaces would be deemed 'difficult'. Thank goodness for slip on shoes, I suppose."

Leonard smiled weakly. "Uh, yeah..."

MEANWHILE (as in a few hours) AT PENNY'S APARTMENT

Penny flopped down onto her sofa holding her phone to her ear with one hand and holding her dictionary in the other. The fancy language hadn't come yet, but she knew it was coming up sometime. "So what's up?"

"Well, I have noticed after several encounters with you and Sheldon that you both seem to be displaying several symptoms of what I've recognised as a doting couple, if my research in femal cinematography is to be plausible in real life scenarios."

Penny took a moment to look up "cinematography" and was shocked to find out it meant the film industry. Then she felt slightly embarrassed. As an actress, shouldn't she know all about the industry's lingo? Once she had shifted through Amy's explanation for her call and broke it down into layman terms, she flushed.

"Sheldon and I are _not_ a 'doting couple', Amy. We're just really close friends. I doubt if we could even pull off being a couple, if we ever decided to." She decided to not let her bestie know about what Sheldon had asked her to do until she decided whether or not to help him.

"Well, that's a pity," the neurobiologist said flatly. "You two certainly look like it, Sheldon and you both are quite attractive, and normally I would rather have my brains scrambled by my monkey, Ricky, than to say this, but I'll try to speak in your vernacular. You two do make a 'cute couple'. I'm just saying if you two look like this to me, imagine what the rest of our social group thinks. Maybe you two really can pull it off, you have been verbally attacking each other less and less recently."

Penny was at a loss for words. Gosh, was that how people really did see them? What was this world coming too? Mistakes like these needed to be fixed, they couldn't just leave them alone, and they needed to be prevented in the future. And she needed to teach Sheldon how to avoid situations, or as he would put it, paradigms (Penny smiled at the thought of using a word from his vocabulary) like this in the future. She wouldn't want another grad student getting the wrong idea and trying to take over Sheldon's life...again.

Penny came to the realisation that there was only one way to fix this. She was going to have to accept Sheldon's experiment. "Penny? Penny? _Penny? Are you there?"_

Amy's voice broke through her thoughts. "H-huh? What? Sorry, Amy, thanks for pointing this out to me, I need to have a talk with Sheldon about this. I'll see you and Bernadette later, right? It's movie night."

"Of course, bestie, I will see you then." and with that, she hung up.

Penny hung up and tossed her phone back on her bed and made her way to 4A.

Amy hung up and looked at her phone. "I hope I did that right and pushed her in the right direction," she whispered to herself.

**HOW WILL THIS TALE GO? STAY TUNED! **

**A/N: Thanks for reading, here's a little christmas present for everyone who followed this story, I'm sorry it took so long to update, holidays got me bus-ay! Until next time, readers!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Matchmaker chapter 5**

**A/N: Again, thank you all for reading/ reviewing/ putting it on alert. Sorry for the wait, been dealing with writers block again, hopefully this will get the ball rolling. **

**I don't own the Big Bang Theory...yet...**

Penny opened the door to 4A, to find Sheldon taking the food out of the containers and setting them on the table.

"Hey, Sheldon," she greeted him.

"On Earth, we knock before entering someone's home," he retorted.

Penny disregarded this and sat in her usual spot and took her order from him just as he extended his hand, their fingers brushing again. Penny didn't even notice the small thrill she felt in her stomach at the contact, she never did. "So where's everyone else?" she asked as she popped open the lid.

Sheldon set his food down and started pulling out a selection of movies he knew they both would be willing to watch so they would have an agreeable selection. "Leonard said that Wollowitz texted him and said that both he and Koothrapalli needed him for something, but he adamantly refused my accompanying him. As if they could figure out their problem without me. Well, I suppose they could, but it would be resolved so much faster if I were there."

**Meanwhile, at Howard's house...**

"Dude, I don't care what he says, if we had a problem that needed solving, we so could have handled it on our own," says Raj as he stuffs another bite into his mouth and stares at the monitor.

"Yeah, I know," replies Leonard. "That's just his Sheldon-ness showing. Besides, did you see the way they touched and both acted like it was totally natural? See, we're onto something here." He stuffed another bite into his mouth and kept watching, even though nothing very fascinating was happening yet.

"HOWARD! DID YOU OFFER YOUR LITTLE FRIENDS ANYTHING TO DRINK YET?"

"YES, MA, THEY BOTH HAVE DRINKS!"

Howard sat in the middle of both of his friends and took a sip from his sprite. "Wait, hold on, I got a better angle." He tapped some keys, and soon they were looking at their two friends from above the pillar in front of the hallway instead of their backs from the door.

"Awesome, Howard," praised Raj. "When did you put these in, anyway?"

Howard gave a small smirk and just said softly, "Don't underestimate engineers. I can very easily design a booby trap that can pull off Penny's Junior Rodeo routine probably better than she can. Sheldon's not the only one close to evil villain status."

Leonard and Raj shared a glance and turned back to the screen.

"So what, Leonard took their food and just left you all alone?"

Sheldon held out another dvd, only to see Penny shake her head, again. "Well," he replied. "Not technically, you're here, therefore I'm not left alone, now am I?"

He held out another movie to which Penny nodded yes and he turned around to insert the disc. Penny pouted and stuffed a bite into her mouth. "You don't know if I was going to come over or not..." she muttered. Sheldon turned around and gave her a look that screamed, "Really?"

The rest of the evening passed with little to no amazing developments, much to Leonard's, Raj's, and Howard's dismay. It wasn't until they had both finished their meals and finished the movie did they really start talking.

Penny cleared her throat and placed her hands in her lap as she turned towards Sheldon. "Sheldon? There's something I'd like to discuss with you."

Their other three friends leaned in closer to the screen.

"Yes, Penny?"

"Well, I thought it over, and had some encouragement, I think I'll take you up on that experiment. I accept."

Sheldon's face lit up. "Wonderful, I shall draw up a contract tonight, if you'd like, you can join me tomorrow, perhaps eleven thirty AM to go over it?"

Penny smiled tentatively. She should have known that he would include a contract, but she was going to have to show him that contracts were not normally used in relationships. Penny resolved to making spontaneity the very first thing she taught him. That's when it really hit her. _She _would be teaching _Sheldon_. The thought made her giggle.

"You find something humorous, Penny?"

"Not really, just thinking."

The time had passed and neither of them had noticed how late it was getting. Sheldon glanced at his watch. "It's bedtime now, Penny, please see yourself out. Goodnight."

Leonard, Raj, and Howard waited until they were both out of sight of all the cameras to turn the monitor off and go home.

Penny went into her room and pulled out an old discarded notebook. He always said the best experiments were always documented. Flipping to the first page, Penny started off by titling the experiment: _Sheldon: The Final Frontier. _

**A/N: I can haz reviews? LOL and as always, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it!**


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